​‘Russia not beacon of democracy, but much freer than it was in 90s’

People stand in line to attend a memorial service before the funeral of Russian leading opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, as vehicles drive by, in Moscow, March 3, 2015. (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov) / Reuters

Regarding basic civil rights, the situation in Russia is much better than it was four or five years ago, political analyst Evgeniy Minchenko told RT. The recent march in memory of politician Boris Nemtsov in the center of Moscow proves that, he added.

Following the murder of
Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, President Obama lashed
out at Moscow. He said: “I have no idea at this point exactly
what happened. What I do know is more broadly the fact that
freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of
information, basic civil rights and civil liberties inside of
Russia are in much worse shape now than they were four or five,
or ten years ago."

RT:Do you believe these accusations are
justified?

Evgeniy Minchenko: No, I don’t think so. I would
say that if we compare it, for example, with the Ukrainian
situation…it is much worse than in Russia with the freedom of
speech, with civil rights, and so on. I would say that situation
in Russia now is much better [regarding] basic civil rights than
it was four or five years ago, as President Obama said.

For example, now we have governor races and we have much more
liberal rules to register political parties. So I totally
disagree with Mr. Obama. Of course, Russia is not a beacon of
liberal democracy but I guess now Russia is a [much freer]
country then it was, for example, in the 90’s.

RT:Among the things Obama mentioned is no
freedom of assembly. But we saw tens of thousands of people
marching in Moscow's streets in memory of Nemtsov, and people
were allowed to take part without a fuss at all. So what's the
problem here?

EM: I totally agree with you, because they had a
permission to make this assembly in the center of Moscow just in
one day. I guess that the government and the city of Moscow [are
very] welcoming to those people who wanted to remember Boris
Nemtsov. So I don’t see any problem.

RT: The mainstream Western media has also been
quick to jump to conclusions without supplying any evidence. Why
has this case got them so excited?

EM: That is about attitude… because if something
happens in Russia of course they have to blame Putin. That is the
main point form the mainstream media.

RT: In your opinion, who's benefiting from this
murder?

EM: I’m pretty sure that the beneficiaries of
this situation are people who want to change the situation in the
country, who want to destabilize Russia.

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According to Bruno Drweski, Professor at the National Institute
of Languages and Eastern Civilizations, Obama’s comments are not
objective.

“I think that these comments coming from the country of the
Patriot Act and the country which Snowden had to flee are not
very objective anyway,” he told RT.

Also, the moment the US President chose to make political
statements – on the eve of Nemtsov’s funeral – was not very
appropriate, Professor Drweski suggests.

The anti-Russian campaign will continue “further and
further” since the atmosphere between Moscow and the West is
reminiscent of that during the Cold War, he said.

“Of course it’s a very complicated issue but I think that
Russia is not the main [cause] of the problem with that
international situation,” he added.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.